What started as a simple Facebook post has turned into a community-wide effort to make prom dreams come true for dozens of local teens.
Reasha Daniels, owner of Pretty Girlz Fitness in downtown Eatonton, is wrapping up her first-ever prom dress outreach and said the response has exceeded anything she could have imagined.
“This will be my third year I’ve been open here, but I’ve been doing this business for eight years,” Daniels said. “So now, we just wanted to start doing something more in the community than having our fitness classes.”
That desire led to the idea of holding a prom dress donation drive, the first in what Daniels hopes will be a series of monthly outreach efforts. The goal was simple: collect gently used formalwear and give it to girls who might not otherwise be able to afford a prom dress.
“I really thought in the beginning when we started that we were going to get maybe 15 to 20 dresses,” she said. “But it grew really quick, and pretty soon we had to start borrowing racks from people because we had nowhere to put them all.”
Just a few weeks after announcing her prom dress plans on the Pretty Girlz Fitness Facebook page, more than 200 dresses poured in from across Putnam County and surrounding areas. Some were gently used, while others still had the tags attached. One dress, Daniels said, had never been worn and still carried its $700 price tag.
To date, nearly 90 dresses have been claimed, mostly by Putnam County girls preparing for prom or even pageants later this year.
“They come here, they try them on, and then they say yes to the dress,” Daniels said, borrowing a TV reference with a smile. “And once they say yes, they have officially claimed that dress.”
The outreach extended even beyond local high school students. Daniels and volunteers recently delivered dresses to a girls' youth detention center in Macon.
“They were giving them a Valentine’s prom, provided they maintained good behavior,” Daniels explained. “However, they didn’t have any dresses there, so we donated 27 dresses to that facility.”
Above all, Daniels credits local community participation for the success of the prom dress program.
“I know that it’s pushed through Pretty Girlz Fitness, but I want people to know that this has been successful because of the community’s support. People are very generous around here,” she said.
Daniels added that she plans to make the prom dress drive an annual event, but hopes Pretty Girlz Fitness can host a different outreach project each month.
Next, she’s planning to assemble and distribute personal hygiene kits for area teens. She’s now asking for donations such as socks, deodorant, toothpaste, and other essentials for both boys and girls, emphasizing that boys’ items like socks, shaving cream, and razors are especially needed.
“I think when we put it out there, we automatically get things for females,” she said. “We are always lacking things for the young men.”
Donations can be dropped off during fitness class hours, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at 106 W. Marion St., Eatonton, or arrangements can be made through the Pretty Girlz Fitness Facebook page.